Letter from Joe Richman of Radio Diaries, from South Africa

A letter from Joe at Radio Diaries arrived in our inbox late last night:

Dear Friends of Radio Diaries,

I'm writing to you from South Africa where we are on the last leg of Thembi's AIDS Diary tour. I had not planned to send an email update, as most of you live in the US. But our two week tour of this country with Thembi and Melikhaya (Thembi's boyfriend) has turned into the most valuable thing Radio Diaries has ever done. Thembi has talked to thousands of people – in person and over the airwaves – from a high school in Soweto, to Constitution Hill in Johannesburg, to a clinic in a squatter camp on a former municipal dump, to a small village with no electricity or running water.

Thembi has been giving out her cell phone number in radio interviews and at events, and dozens of people have been calling her everyday – a woman looking for the nearest clinic, a young girl wanting to know how long she should stay a virgin. Thembi has become the host of her own cell phone call-in show.

Please see Thembi's blog. It is amazing. There you will also find info about our final Cape Town events, and hear Thembi's AIDS Diary entries.

As always, thanks for listening,

Joe Richman,
Radio Diaries is a not-for-profit organization

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